Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi has expressed bafflement regarding Amine Gouiri’s mystery knee injury after the striker admitted even his club Rennes was unaware of the issue that ruled him out of AFCON duty this week.
Gouiri was sensationally withdrawn from Algeria’s Africa Cup of Nations squad on Sunday despite the winger playing a full match for Rennes as recently as December 20th.
Upon linking up with the Desert Foxes in camp in Togo, Gouiri alerted medical staff to knee pain that proved serious enough on further scans for Algeria to release the 23-year old back to France.
However, a perplexed Belmadi revealed Gouiri himself informed the national team that Rennes were oblivious to any fitness concerns leading up to his AFCON call-up.
“Strangely we received a press release from Stade Rennes following our request since it was the player himself who told us that he had this pain that we were unaware of since his last match was December 20,” Belmadi stated.
While Gouiri focuses on rehabilitation the exact nature and timeframe of his knee complaint remains unclear and did not prevent his heavy involvement in Rennes’ final 2022 fixture.
Nonetheless, Algeria must now prepare their title defence without the versatile forward, leaving Belmadi frustrated at conflicting stories over when and how Gouiri’s injury surfaced on the eve of Africa’s showpiece event.
Djamel explique la blessure de Gouiri et les échanges avec le Stade Rennais #TeamDZ pic.twitter.com/vtEBZRNJff
— DZfoot (@DZfoot) January 1, 2024
